The Washington Post’s neologism contest winners.

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The Washington Post’s neologism contest winners.

December 2, 2019July 21, 2023 1555

I came across this today and broke up laughing. These are seriously clever! Thanks to the Washington Post. I wasn’t aware of their neologism contest, but I am now! Read and enjoy. Pass it along.

Do you know what a playwright is? A playwright is someone who lets his guts hang out on the stage.

Edward Albee

It is perfectly okay to write garbage — as long as you edit brilliantly.

C. J. Cherryh

If you haven’t got an idea, start a story anyway. You can always throw it away, and maybe by the time you get to the fourth page you will have an idea, and you’ll only have to throw away the first three pages.

William C. Gault

What I loved most about calling myself a reporter was that it gave me an excuse to show up anyplace.

Jeanette Walls

It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil, trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.

William Faulkner

I write the last line, and then I write the line before that. I find myself writing backwards for a while, until I have a solid sense of how that ending sounds and feels. You have to know what your voice sounds like at the end of the story, because it tells you how to sound when you begin.

John Irving

To me, movies and music go hand in hand. When I’m writing a script, one of the first things I do is find the music I’m going to play for the opening sequence.

Quentin Tarantino

If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.

Oscar Wilde

I don’t care if a reader hates one of my stories, just as long as he finishes the book.

Roald Dahl

The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book.

Mickey Spillane

Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very”; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.

Mark Twain

The reason 99% of all stories written are not bought by editors is very simple. Editors never buy manuscripts that are left on the closet shelf at home.

John Campbell

Work on a computer that is disconnected from the Internet.

Zadie Smith

It is only natural to pattern yourself after someone. But you can’t just copy someone. If you like someone’s work, the important thing is to be exposed to everything that person has been exposed to.

Bob Dylan

Keep a small can of WD-40 on your desk — away from any open flames — to remind yourself that if you don’t write daily, you will get rusty.

George Singleton

A blank piece of paper is God’s way of telling us how hard it to be God.

Sidney Sheldon

Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost how it feels about dogs.

Christopher Hampton

Biography should be written by an acute enemy.

Arthur Balfour

Books aren’t written, they’re rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn’t quite done it.

Michael Crichton

Finishing a book is just like you took a child out in the back yard and shot it.